Good evening! Thank you very much for joining
Sports Mole for tonight's
Champions League showdown between
Napoli and
Liverpool at the Stadio San Paolo!
Group C is arguably the most competitive in this season's Champions League, and with PSG current cruising against Red Star Belgrade in the group's other game, tonight's result takes on even more importance for both of these sides.
We will have a closer look a little later, but first let's check out the team news...
NAPOLI STARTING XI: Ospina; Maksimovic, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui; Allan, Hamsik, Ruiz; Callejon, Milik, Insigne
NAPOLI SUBS: Verdi, Mertens, Zielinski, Hysaj, Karnezis, Rog, Diawara
LIVERPOOL STARTING XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Milner, Wijnaldum, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane
LIVERPOOL SUBS: Fabinho, Lovren, Henderson, Sturridge, Moreno, Mignolet, Shaqiri
What can we make of those two sides, then?
Well, we'll start with the visitors and the headline news as far as they are concerned is that captain Jordan Henderson misses out tonight - perhaps with one eye on the weekend showdown with Manchester City at Anfield.
Klopp has protected Henderson during the opening stages of the season, with the England international spending time in and out of the team, but he is replaced this evening by Naby Keita in midfield.
If
Jurgen Klopp did have one eye on the weekend with that decision, the rest of the starting lineup shows no signs of his focus drifting to Manchester City, with Keita's inclusion the only change from the starting lineup which faced Chelsea at the weekend.
That means another start for the indefatigable James Milner - who registered a tournament-record nine assists to help Liverpool to the final last season - while Georginio Wijnaldum once again starts in that midfield trio too.
One player who has been pushing for another start is Daniel Sturridge, who looks to be back to somewhere close to his best now having scored in each of his last three appearances for the club.
The striker netted in both games against former club Chelsea last week and also opened the scoring against PSG on matchday one, having started ahead of Roberto Firmino in that game. Sturridge may begin to find himself used more regularly, but for now he has to make do with a place on the bench once again.
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Even accounting for Sturridge's recent form, it is hard to argue with the selection. Roberto Firmino has been directly involved in 18 goals from 14 Champions League appearances from Liverpool, scoring seven - including the late winner against PSG - and assisting a further seven.
There have been claims that the front three have not been at their best so far this season, but it is worth remembering that last term they established themselves as the most prolific Champions League strikeforce of all time, each netting 10 goals in this competition.
Most of the questions have surrounded Mohamed Salah, which is perhaps predictable considering the ludicrously high standards he set himself last season.
The Egyptian winger just seems to be lacking that golden final touch which served him so well en route to 44 goals in 2017-18, although he does still have three to his name already this term. Salah has also directly contributed to three goals in his last two starts against Napoli, with both of those coming during his time with Roma.
As for Napoli, the biggest question for
Carlo Ancelotti tonight was who he selected up front along with the in-form
Lorenzo Insigne, and he has gone with the formbook and chosen Milik to lead the line.
Milik has three goals in six Serie A appearances so far this season - having only managed five in each of his first two full campaigns with the club, so he is enjoying a really good start to the season and will be a threat tonight.
Dries Mertens - who has been directly involved in nine of Napoli's last 14 Champions League goals at this stadium - is the man to miss out as he drops to the bench, with Insigne always likely to start.
Insigne is Napoli's top scorer so far this season with five goals, which puts him already just three behind his total from the whole of last season. Indeed, Insigne has scored three times since Napoli's first outing in this year's competition.
Mertens is not the only notable player to miss out tonight, and it is an interesting team selection from Carlo Ancelotti as the likes of Hysaj and one-time Liverpool transfer target Zielinski also drop out.
Maksimovic and Hamsik are the two players to come back into the side from the team that started against Red Star Belgrade in their opening group game.
That match against Red Star ended goalless, which is certainly not an ideal start to a group-stage campaign which also contains PSG and Liverpool, so Napoli will need to take more points off those two group favourites now if they are to progress.
Of course, trips to Eastern Europe are notoriously difficult, but the fact that PSG are currently beating Red Star 4-0 - albeit at home - shows that they could be two valuable points Napoli dropped last time out in this competition.
The Partenopei have now won just twice in their last nine Champions League games, with six defeats in that time, although both of their victories did come here at the Stadio San Paolo.
The draw with Red Star was also only the third time that they have failed to score in their last 29 Champions League outings, so they will be eager to rediscover their goalscoring touch tonight - and they will probably need it against Liverpool.
Domestically, things could be a lot better for Napoli, who only narrowly missed out to Juventus in the Serie A title race this season as they looked to end a 28-year wait for the crown - incidentally the same length of time Liverpool have been waiting.
Napoli again sit second in the standings after seven games of this season, but they are already six points adrift of Juventus after losing to the champions 3-1 in Turin on Saturday.
Napoli had been unbeaten in four games prior to that Juventus defeat and had also conceded only one goal in that time, but now they find themselves facing the prospect of successive losses.
That is not a fate which has befallen Napoli since December, when incidentally their first loss came against Juventus and their second was in the Champions League - losing 2-1 to Feyenoord.
Napoli do not actually have a very good record in this competition, having never made it past the last 16 of either the European Cup or the Champions League - and only making it that far on three previous occasions.
Last season they finished third in their group - winning two of three home games but losing to Manchester City - before going on to be knocked out in last 32 of the Europa League by RB Leipzig.
Tonight's hosts do have an ace up their sleeve this time around, though, with manager Carlo Ancelotti laying a very real claim to the greatest ever Champions League manager.
Ancelotti has lifted this trophy three times as a boss - a tally only Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane can match - and Napoli are the eighth team he has led in it, extending his own record.
The Italian has also never lost a Champions League against Liverpool, winning three of the previous four, although the drawn exception was that famous night in Istanbul when Liverpool came from three goals down to win on penalties in the 2005 final.
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Napoli come into this match have lost just four of their last 26 European home games, winning 16 of those, but two of those defeats have come in their last two such matches - including a 3-1 loss to Leipzig in their most recent one.
The Partenopei are, however, unbeaten in their last eight home matches across all competitions stretching back to March, winning all but one of those including all three so far this season.
This is a very difficult place to come, though, but Liverpool will not be daunted having swept aside plenty of big tests en route to the final of this competition last season, particularly away from home.
Indeed, Liverpool scored a record 22 goals in seven Champions League away games last season - an average of more than three per game. They did lose their last European away outing of the campaign, though, with Roma winning on the night but not doing enough to progress through to the final on aggregate.
That loss to Roma - their last visit to Italy, incidentally - was only their second European away defeat in their last 14 such fixtures, although they have also won just five of their last 19, with eight draws and six defeats in that time too.
The Reds are unbeaten in four away games so far this season, meanwhile, winning three of those with the only draw coming in Saturday's match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Liverpool's draw at the Bridge brought an end to their perfect Premier League start - having also seen their 100% record in all competitions ended by the same opponents in the EFL Cup just three days prior - but it would have felt like a win for many Liverpool fans.
Hazard's goal looked to have set Chelsea on course for a valuable three points against their fellow title hopefuls, but Daniel Sturridge came off the bench to score a stunning late equaliser to at least keep Liverpool unbeaten.
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As a result, Liverpool now sit joint-top of the Premier League table, only behind champions Manchester City on goal difference.
Chelsea are the only other team still to be unbeaten after seven games of the season, and they will certainly be interested spectators when Liverpool host Manchester City in their top-of-the-table clash on Sunday - a mouth-watering contest between two of Europe's best attacking teams at the moment.
It is already Liverpool's best-ever start to a Premier League season, and they did not make a bad start to their Champions League campaign either after missing out on a sixth European Cup in May.
The Reds overcame the significant test of PSG at Anfield and, in truth, the Reds should have won a lot more comfortably than they did. PSG gave them a late scare by coming from two goals down, but Firmino's stoppage-time winner sealed a deserved victory.
Despite Liverpool's good result, they are still yet to hit peak form for the most part and the front three in particular have been called into question so far.
Liverpool should have beaten Tottenham and PSG by a much healthier margin last month, and even on Saturday they had the chances to take the game away from Chelsea only to then find themselves needing a late equaliser.
One thing is for sure - Liverpool will need to be at their very best on Saturday when they host Manchester City at Anfield in what is sure to be an open and attacking affair.
Liverpool beat Man City three times out of four last season, but they cannot afford to let their focus desert this match given the quality of opponent that they are up against tonight.
PREDICTION! Right, we're 10 minutes away from kickoff at the Stadio San Paolo, which means that it is time for a prediction!
This is an incredibly difficult one to call; if Liverpool click and suddenly find their form then they have the ability to win, but Napoli also have a strong squad and will fancy their chances tonight.
We are going to go down the middle for a 2-2 draw, though.
SPORTS MOLE SAYS: 2-2
These two sides have only met on two previous occasions, both of which came in the group stages of the 2010-11 Europa League.
The match in Naples ended goalless on that occasion, but there was plenty of drama at Anfield when Steven Gerrard scored a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes - including goals in the 88th and 89th minutes - to seal a come-from-behind 3-1 win.
The two clubs have actually met as recently as pre-season ahead of the current campaign, though, with Liverpool running out convincing 5-0 winners in Dublin.
Counting only competition fixtures, though, Liverpool have only lost two of their last eight away games against Italian opposition - one of which came in their most recent Champions League outing on the road.
Napoli's last home game against English visitors saw them beaten 4-2 by Manchester City in last season's group stages, but that was their first ever defeat at home to a Premier League outfit.
The hosts also have a good omen in the dugout, with Ancelotti having beaten Klopp in their only previous managerial meeting when the Italian led Real Madrid and Klopp was in charge of Borussia Dortmund.
Right, the players are out and we're almost ready to get started here! A reminder of the team news before we do get going...
NAPOLI STARTING XI: Ospina; Maksimovic, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui; Allan, Hamsik, Ruiz; Cellejon, Milik, Insigne
LIVERPOOL STARTING XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Milner, Wijnaldum, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane
KICKOFF: Here we go, then! We are underway at the Stadio San Paolo!
UPDATE: It is a nightmare start for Tottenham - the other English team in action tonight - as they have fallen behind against Barcelona within a couple of minutes courtesy of a Philippe Coutinho strike.
The earlier games, meanwhile, saw PSG run out 6-1 winners against Red Star and Schalke beat Lokomotiv Moscow 1-0.
Nothing to report in terms of early chances for either side here as they try to settle into the match here. Liverpool have been a little slow to get going.
There have been one or two warning signs at either end of the pitch so far that the pace of the attacks could see them have joy in behind tonight. It could be an open match tonight!
The Liverpool plays are being heavily whistled every time they get hold of the ball, but they would have been expecting that. Klopp insisted that they can cope with it, but we will see over the next 80 minutes or so.
CLOSE! Chance for Napoli to take the lead! Keita gives the ball away cheaply and Napoli immediately come forward. The ball is floated over to Insigne, who takes it down on his chest before drilling a low strike towards the bottom far corner which bobbles narrowly wide.
Liverpool are giving the ball away far too easily at the moment. They have committed a few poor passes straight to blue shirts already tonight and they cannot expect to keep getting away with it.
Napoli are looking the most likely to break the deadlock right now, with Liverpool really struggling to get going at the moment.
SHOT! Insigne bundles past one player before choosing to try his luck from range, but his curling effort flies high and wide of the target.
Concern for Liverpool here as Keita goes down off the ball with no Napoli player near him. He stays down too, and will need to be taken off on a stretcher here. Very strange - it was such an innocuous moment.
LIVERPOOL SUB: Sure enough, there is the change as Keita is carted off to be replaced by Jordan Henderson.
Ruiz swings a cross to the back post where Callejon is in all sorts of space, but he tries to cushion a volley back across goal and gets it all wrong. He had the time to take a touch there!
Henderson has come on as though he has a point to prove here. He is charging about the field and looking to kickstart Liverpool into life after a slow start to this match.
YELLOW CARD! Koulibaly goes into the book for a heavy sliding challenge on Van Dijk, clattering into his fellow centre-back after the ball had got away from him.
SHOT! Liverpool create their first sight of goal as the ball drops to Wijnaldum 25 yards out, but he drags a tame effort easily into the arms of the keeper. He didn't catch that one at all.
UPDATE: A flurry of goals from elsewhere in the Champions League, including more bad news for Spurs as they now trail Barcelona 2-0 at Wembley courtesy of an Ivan Rakitic goal.
Also in that group, PSV have taken the lead against Inter Milan, while Atletico Madrid are now also in front against Club Brugge.
Better from Liverpool as they keep the pressure on deep inside the Napoli half, but it is all very tight in there and the visitors are eventually crowded out.
Napoli quickly launch a counter-attack and they are aided by a slip from Wijnaldum, but the final ball lets the hosts down as Callejon cannot slip it into the path of Insigne.
SAVE! Alisson is called into action for the first time tonight as Milik collects the ball inside the box with his back to goal and does well to swivel and shoot. It is straight at Alisson, though, and the Liverpool keeper knocks it into the air before gathering at the second attempt.
Better from Liverpool as Alexander-Arnold gets down the right to deliver a cross into the box twice in quick succession. The first is a low ball which is cleared away, and the second is a more dangerous aerial ball which Ospina punches clear.
Less than 10 minutes remaining in this half now and Liverpool are still yet to really get going in this match. They have shown a couple of glimpses of what we know they can do, but they haven't created any clear chances so far and will need to do better in the second half.
Salah collects the ball on the edge of the area and tries to release a snapshot which is blocked and falls into the path of Alexander-Arnold. The full-back goes for goal first time, but fires his effort well off target.
UPDATE: Club Brugge have now levelled things up against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Liverpool break into the box as Henderson smuggles a pass through, but both Firmino and Robertson are a bit slow to react and that allows the Napoli defence to get a block in.
Koulibaly comes charging forward to stick with Firmino before tripping him, and that is a risky challenge considering he is already on a yellow card. He won't be allowed too many more of them.
UPDATE: Inter Milan have levelled things up against PSV in Tottenham's group, with Radja Nainggolan getting the equaliser.
There will be four minutes of stoppage time at the end of this first half.
YELLOW CARD! Milner picks up a yellow card for a late challenge on Allan, and he can have no complaints.
HALF TIME: NAPOLI 0-0 LIVERPOOL
The first half comes to an end at the Stadio San Paolo, and we're still goalless after a fairly low-key first half between Napoli and Liverpool.
Napoli have had the one clear chance of the night so far, but goalmouth action has been very few and far between and hopefully we will see an improvement in the coming 45 minutes.
That one chance saw Keita give the ball away carelessly in midfield and Napoli immediately break forward, with the ball ending up at the feet of Insigne.
The in-form striker drilled his effort towards the bottom far corner, but it bobbled narrowly wide of the target.
Aside from that - and a Milik half-chance which drew a save from Alisson - the main talking point of that first half was an injury suffered by Naby Keita.
The midfielder - making his Champions League debut for the club - went down clutching his back after what had been a poor start to the game, and he ended up needing to be stretchered off in a worrying moment for the Reds.
MATCH STATS!
Napoli have just about edged the possession stats in this match so far, while Liverpool have failed to register a single shot on target in the first half for only the second time so far in 2018.
Plenty more match stats can be found by clicking here.
KICKOFF: Napoli get us back underway for the start of this second half!
UPDATE: An early goal from elsewhere in the Champions League as Porto have taken the lead against Galatasaray.
SAVE! Better from Napoli as Insigne flicks the ball off to Milik, who takes and touch and immediately drills an effort towards goal. Alisson gets down to make the save, but spills it into a dangerous area and needs Gomez to come across and clear.
SAVE! Alisson is called into action again here as Ruiz drills a half-volley towards goal, but this time the Brazilian keeper collects it with minimum fuss.
UPDATE: More goals from elsewhere to tell you about, and the headline is that Harry Kane has pulled one back for Tottenham against Barcelona - just moments after Messi had hit the post twice.
Dortmund also lead Monaco, which means this is not the only goalless game of the night!
UPDATE: Another update from Wembley, where Barcelona have responded immediately to restore their two-goal lead through Messi.
Napoli's threat is growing now! Ruiz gets down the left flank and plays a dangerous low ball into the box for Insigne, who is thwarted by Van Dijk.
Another nearly moment for Napoli as Ruiz has space on the edge of the box for a moment, but opts to delay his shot and that allows Milner to steal the ball back off his toes.
SHOT! Napoli keep the pressure on and Insigne finds Milik on the edge of the box, but his first-time effort is a long way wide of the target.
There just isn't the same clinical nature about Liverpool's breaks at the moment. Instead of the front three bursting forward in full flight there is just too much hesitation and that sees another good attacking platform break down here.
UPDATE: Atletico Madrid have regained the lead against Club Brugge, with Antoine Griezmann doubling his personal tally for the night, and Spurs have also just pulled another goal back against Barcelona to make it 3-2 to the visitors at Wembley - Lamela with the goal.
Just 25 minutes remaining in this match and it has not lived up to expectations so far, that is for sure. Even so, a Champions League draw away to Napoli is not to be scoffed at and this would be a better result for Liverpool than it would for Napoli.
More fireworks in the stands than on the pitch at the moment...
CHANCE! This goes down as a chance by the standards of this match. The ball drops to Salah on the edge of the box after Napoli failed to clear their lines from a couple of crosses into the box, but the winger curls his effort wide.
NAPOLI SUBS: Double change from the home side here as Simone Verdi and Dries Mertens replace Ruiz and Milik.
UPDATE: Dortmund are now two goals to the good against Monaco, who are set for two defeats from two in this season's competition.
CHANCE! Half a chance for the new man Verdi as Robertson can only clear a dangerous cross as far as the sub. Verdi tries to hit it first time, but it ends up in Row Z. Awful effort.
Big chance for Callejon as he is played through with an incisive ball into the box, but Alisson is alert and makes a big one-on-one save. The linesman's flag means that it wouldn't have counted anyway, although the replay shows that the official got that one wrong.
OFF THE LINE! Napoli are really starting to knock on the door now! Koulibaly pops up on the left flank and sends a deep cross into the box which Callejon meets with a well-controlled volley. Gomez is well placed to clear it off the line, though, and moments later Koulibaly fires one over from the edge of the box.
LIVERPOOL SUB: Klopp responds by making a chance as Fabinho replaces Milner.
Better from Liverpool now as they finally put Napoli under a bit of sustained pressure. There hasn't been enough of that from the visitors tonight.
The decision to introduce Fabinho - rather than Sturridge - tells you all you need to know about Klopp's thinking right now. He would be happy with a point from this match, and anything more would be a steal.
NAPOLI SUB: A third and final change from the home side as Piotr Zielinski replaces Hamsik.
OFF THE BAR! Oh my word, Napoli will not get any closer than this!
Rui whips a delightful ball into the box which Mertens meets from just six yards out with a flying volley, but he crashes his effort against the bar!
Moments later a follow-up effort flies over the crossbar - which is still shaking - and Liverpool are able to reset. They got away with one there!
Just six minutes remaining now, and Liverpool will be hanging on until full time now. It might be worth throwing Daniel Sturridge on for the closing stages, but the priority right now will be wrapping up this point.
Vital goalkeeper from Ospina, who is really alert to come flying out of his area and make a crucial challenge on Salah just as it looked as though the Liverpool man might be through.
LIVERPOOL SUB: We will see Sturridge tonight as he comes on for Mane late on.
UPDATE: A quick update from elsewhere as Messi has scored again to make it 4-2 against Spurs, while Atletico now lead Brugge 3-1.
GOAL! NAPOLI 1-0 LIVERPOOL (LORENZO INSIGNE)
GOAL! It has been coming! Liverpool were just 30 seconds away from keeping Napoli out for the 90 minutes, but the hosts have their goal.
It is a devastating more from the Italian as Callejon collects the ball on the right flank before delivering a low cross into the box which is beyond Alisson and turned home from close range by Insigne, who simply could not miss.
Three minutes of added time have been signalled, but there may be longer than that for the goal.
FULL TIME: NAPOLI 1-0 LIVERPOOL
That one will hurt for Liverpool - they were so close to a hard-fought point away to Napoli which would have left them top of Group C, but as it is they now find themselves in third place, behind both Napoli and PSG.
In truth, the Reds can have no complaints at the final results - even if the manner in which it happened was hard to take - as they never really tested David Ospina in the Napoli goal throughout.
Right, that is all we have time for this evening!
Thank you very much for joining Sports Mole for tonight's match as Napoli strike late to beat Liverpool and blow Group C wide open. I will leave you with our match report, and be sure to stick around for reaction too.
From me, though, it is goodbye for now!
